This invention relates to a mounting assembly for attaching a roof support structure to an escalator or moving walkway.
Escalators or moving walkways are used to transport passengers along a generally flat path or can be used to move passengers from a lower level to an upper level. Often these escalators or moving walkways are not enclosed within buildings. Thus, passengers are exposed to undesirable external environmental elements such as rain, sun, and wind. Also, the environmental contaminants make the escalator or walkway more susceptible to damage. In order to protect the passengers from these environmental elements and to decrease the likelihood of failure due to environmental factors, it is desirable to at least partially enclose the escalator or moving walkway with a roof.
Currently, it is very difficult and expensive to connect a roof to an escalator or moving walkway. In order to attach a roof structure to current escalators or moving walkways, a separate supporting structure must be designed to provide adequate support for the additional weight. This is expensive and time consuming and requires a complete redesign of the existing escalator truss structure.
It is desirable to provide a mounting assembly for a roof structure that can be easily secured to the existing escalator truss structure. The assignee of the present application has developed such a mounting assembly that is inexpensive, easily installed, and which provides a roof structure that protects passengers and the escalator or moving walkway components from the environmental elements.